Subject: Updated info on tools for receiving MP3/RTP sessions

From: Ross Finlayson <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1999 20:52:28 -0700

FYI, here is some updated information on available tools for receiving and
playing multicast MP3 sessions (several of which have been announced on the
MBone recently).  There have recently been some new tools for receiving
these sessions, as well as improvements to some existing tools.

1/ "Freeamp" <http://www.freeamp.org/> - for Windows and Linux/x86 (&
probably other platforms in the future) - can receive and play MP3/RTP
multicast sessions, by giving it a 'pseudo-URL' argument:
	rtp://<multicast-address>:<port>
(Thanks to Robert Kaye for implementing RTP reception in Freeamp.)  This
implementation currently does not generate RTCP reports.

2/ A new input plugin for AOL/Nullsoft's "Winamp" audio player (for
Windows) allows Winamp users to receive & play MP3/RTP sessions directly.
For details, see <http://www.live.com/multikit/winamp-plugin.html>.

3/ For other MP3 player tools, the "playRTPMPEG" helper application
<http://www.live.com/multikit/playRTPMPEG.html> can be used.  This tool
receives multicast MP3/RTP data, and feeds the MP3 data to an existing
audio player (either via stdout, or via a built-in HTTP server).

In particular, RealNetworks' "RealPlayer G2" can now be used - in
combination with "playRTPMPEG" - to play multicast MP3 streams.

For details, see <http://www.live.com/multikit/playRTPMPEG.html>

Both "playRTPMPEG" and the new Winamp input plugin can now support the
experimental "X-MP3" alternative RTP payload format for MP3 data, as well
as the conventional MPEG audio format ("MPA") described in RFC2250.  (The
"liveCaster" server tool can also (optionally) transmit MP3 data using this
new payload format.)  The new payload format is more tolerant of network
packet loss.  For more information, see <http://www.live.com/rtp-mp3/>.  (I
will also be updating and resubmitting the associated Internet-Draft prior
to the Washington DC IETF meeting.)

	Ross.